Vampires – dangerous, deadly, but we can’t get enough

The obsession with the vampire has since the 19^th century dominated our imaginations. Yet no more so than in the past two decades where the vampire has become a mainstay in literature, television, and film.

The Vampyre novel written by John Polidori is often credited with having formed the archetype. Yet it is not until the end of the 19^th century that the rise of the Vampire through fiction really found its footing. I am of course referring to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Since then it seems that the Vampire, like the little black dress, is always in fashion. So whilst the fascination with Vampires; the blood sucking, soul lacking, immortal, fiends, seems to have been around for centuries. The credit for their massive rise in popularity has – surely, to be attributed to the rise in the number of television shows and films about them?

Before the 1990s TV shows about vampires were a rarity. The vampire whilst okay to be used as guest on a series, like in Doctor Who, it was certainly not considered to be a series regular. Yet like the rise of the dot.com, the vampire and its stereotype began to boom in the 1990s. In terms of films, you had Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and Blade to name just three of the heavy hitters. On television though, the credit for bringing vampires into the hearts and minds of most teenage girls has to go to none other than Joss Whedon. He is of course, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Yes, you would be correct in saying “hold on wasn’t there was a film first?” There was, but let’s face it, that whilst Swanson made a valiant attempt to win over our interest as Buffy, Perry our hearts as the man candy in the film, and Sutherland as the slayer’s Watcher, none of them held a candle to Gellar, Boreanaz, and Head who would later fill those roles and make Buffy the triumph that it was.

The Buffy phenomenon made vampires popular, and it made David Boreanaz every women’s fantasy as the brooding vampire with a soul. Vampires had finally become mainstream, acceptable lead characters, and they dominated the imaginations of a generation on a weekly basis for eight years (if you count that Angel ran for a year after Buffy!)

Since then there seems to have been very little respite, and as we moved from the nineties to the noughties the Vampire has continued to hold its ground in the mainstream. Shows like True Blood and the Vampire Diaries, and let’s not forget the cult of Twilight, have all in their own way captured the latest generation of teenage girl’s hearts (and behind closed doors when boyfriends or husbands are out, the hearts of non teenage women too.)

Vampires, about whom it has been reinforced time and time again, are cold, unfeeling, and not only can but will hurt you, rip your throat out, drain your blood, and bottom line kill you, are still very popular. They are the villains that we can’t quite bring ourselves to hate, and this should bother us more than it does. We should also probably question our ingrained ability to ensure self preservation, and possibly our mental health. It seems that perhaps we are all looking for the bad boy turned good?? Or we all still believe that we can find that one man / vampire that will change for us?

I also note that despite the fact that the Cullen female vampires seem friendly (Rosalie comes round eventually) the story is never a female vampire falling for a young human male. The Mrs Robinson fantasy does not seem to carry quite the same weight with the targeted audience.

It is a strange obsession that we (as women) have though, and again it is slightly troubling that we seem compelled to want men that are  old enough to be our fathers, fathers, fathers, father etc (in Eric’s case in True Blood it would take me a few more lines to get back far enough). In reality could we handle the fact that we, or our daughters, friends, cousins, whoever, are dating men that are centuries old and let’s face it murderers? There would be an awful lot of ex-girlfriends in his cupboard!

Also, we all know what happens when the relationship doesn’t work, and you don’t get the Bella and Edward happily ever after. Buffy showed us in series two! Your once amazing vampire boyfriend that protected you, now stalks you, tries to kill everyone in your life, and drive you insane! Easy for me to be dismissive and judgmental, but I too would have taken him back (you know, once his soul was restored!)

So let’s face it the vampire as the leading man is here to stay. The concept clearly ignites something in us (by us I mean women again). So whilst the vampire is not good and in fact is mostly bad, we don’t care and still wish that we had one of our own for a boyfriend!

Two final thoughts though, if were a vampire you must be a) really annoyed that everyone knows how to kill and identify you, and as a male vampire b) that you have a lot to live up to if you want to date a human, thanks to the fictional characters of Angel, Edward Cullen, and the Salvatore brothers you’ve set the bar pretty high!


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